A class-action lawsuit filed in 2011 that accused Akron's FirstMerit Bank of processing transactions on retail customer accounts in a way that either led to or exacerbated overdraft charges has been settled for $15.9 million.

The bank did not admit any wrongdoing in the case and maintained that it charged overdraft fees appropriately for transactions examined in the suit between March 16, 2005, and Aug. 13, 2010, and maintained that its method for charging customers had no effect on the number of fees charged to account holders.

Asked about the settlement, Huntington spokesman Brent Wilder simply replied with a prepared statement: "Certain former FirstMerit customers are receiving notice of a settlement regarding a class action lawsuit related to FirstMerit's previous past overdraft practices. All pertinent information about the settlement is available at www.FirstMeritOverdraftSettlement.com."

The settlement establishes a cash settlement fund of $8.9 million and a debt forgiveness settlement fund of $7 million. The latter fund will be used primarily to pay attorney costs and fees.

Representing the plaintiffs in Jacobs v. Huntington Bancshares Inc. and the Huntington National Bank in Lake County Court of Common Pleas was Painesville-based Dworken & Bernstein.

"We were very, very, very happy with the outcome," said Dworken partner Patrick Perotti, who led work on the class-action lawsuit.

At the heart of the case was how FirstMerit processed transactions. The complaint charged FirstMerit with engaging in a process called "reordering," Perotti said, which the bank denied. Reordering refers to processing charges out of the sequence they were actually made in by the customers. Doing so would potentially result in layers of fees that might otherwise not been incurred.

"It was a gray area," Perotti said. "The bank said, 'We could do this.' We said, 'We don't think so.'"

That "reordering" was the target of The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 signed into law by President Barack Obama. That law restricts the way banks are able to process customer transactions.

"The judge never ruled on who was right," Perotti said. "This was settled where we don't claim right or wrong. But it's probably in the best interest of everybody to get this case resolved."

Lawsuits like this are far from uncommon with some of the largest banks in the country settling similar cases in recent years including Citizens Bank, U.S. Bank and Bank Of America. Those cases typically were filed after 2009, when the CARD Act was passed.

More information about the case or the deadline for customers to file a claim for restitution can be found on a webpage created to explain the lawsuit.

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